Several sporting events involve competitors racing around an oval track consisting of two straightaway portions and two curved portions connecting the straightaway portions. FIG. 1A illustrates a traditional track 10 with straightaway portions extending from point 101 to 106 and point 103 to 104 and curved portions extending from point 101 to 102 to 103 and point 104 to 105 to 106. A traditional track 10 often includes several parallel lanes where lane 1 is the innermost lane. FIG. 1B shows a portion of track 10 extending from point 106 to 101 to 102. As can be seen in FIG. 1B, track 10 includes of 8 parallel lanes 131-138. In several events utilizing track 10, each competitor must stay within his or her assigned lane. At least twelve Olympic events require competitors to stay within an assigned lane: the 200 m and 400 m, the 400 m hurdles, the 4×100 m relay, the 4×400 m relay (first leg) and the decathlon, for men and for women. The arc length of an outer lane is greater than that of an inner lane. Thus, in order for each competitor to run the same length and yet finish at a common finish line, the competitors are placed in staggered starting position, for example, on the first curve between points 101 and 103 such that each competitor runs equal arc lengths before reaching the straightaway.
Despite this “staggered start” positioning that equalizes the distance run by each competitor, a serious lack of parity between competitors in track events remains. This lack of parity stems from the “centrifugal effect.” An athlete running a curve must expend some of his or her thrust force to combat the centrifugal force, leaving less thrust force available for increasing or maintaining speed. Consequently, he or she can run faster on a straight course than on a curve. More importantly, he or she can run faster in an outer (less curved) lane than in an inner lane. The importance of this effect is indicated by the fact that Tommy Smith's world record time for the conventional 200 m, which he set running in Lane 3 , is 0.43 sec slower than his world record time for a 200 m run in a straight track.
A 200 m straight track may be constructed by adding a 100 m extension onto the straightaway extending from point 103 to 104 of FIG. 1A. Such a 100 m extension may prove problematic within a track venue as it may not fit within the playing surface and may result in inferior sightlines for spectators.